What Are Icelanders Talking About?

In a story that has made international headlines, three died in a fatal accident in South Iceland in the last week of December. Seven passengers were in a Toyota Land Cruiser which fell from the bridge over the Núpsá river, the cause of which has yet not been determined at the time of this writing. Most tragic of all, this was reportedly a family trip: two brothers with their wives and children were visiting Iceland from the UK. Both of the women and a child less than a year old died, with the two men and two young children left critically injured. The incident has raised concerns about the numerou one-lane bridges around Iceland, many of which are old and do not meet current safety requirements. Our sympathies go to the survivors and their relations.

The Klausturgate trial at Reykjavík District Court has not gone well for the four Centre Party MPs trying to cast aspersions on Bára Halldórsdóttir, the woman who recorded them speaking abusively about their female colleagues. They have contended that Bára could not have acted alone, demanding security footage from the bar Klaustur, where they had their conversation, and have wanted to summon witnesses as tangential as the minister for the National Cathedral. The court has pretty much dismissed all of these requests. Maybe they should have just cut their losses after apologising—as it is, the parliamentarians are digging an ever-deepening hole, and no one is taking the shovel away from them.

It seems Reykjavík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson isn’t out of the woods yet in the so-called bunker case, which drew attention last October when it came to light that the city had gone well over-budget for the renovation of a restaurant at Nauthólsvík. At the time, councilpersons for the majority said the city regularly goes over-budget on projects. An internal review of the matter, brought to light in the third week of December, however, came to the conclusion that the reason why this project went over budget was mainly due to a lack of supervision that violated numerous city guidelines and possibly the law, implicating both Dagur and the former head of the city’s properties division, Hrólfur Jónsson. This revelation sparked renewed calls for Dagur’s resignation, both within the council minority, and amongst regular Icelanders. Dagur has been adamant that he will not resign, so who knows.